The Gospel of Matthew - Money and the Kingdom [May 17, 2026]

Good morning. Good morning. Try it one more time

for the mic. Good morning. Good morning. Love

it. Good morning. My name is Scott. I've been

here at the house for about five years. And from

time to time, I get to share. And so I'm doing

that this morning. And we're in a series on Matthew.

So this morning I'm going to share from Matthew

6. First, I would like to hear a little bit about

storage. Some places that folks have run out

of storage. Anybody got a hand for me? Yes, okay.

Your closet. What's your closet full of? Dirty

clothes, she says. I love that honesty, yeah.

Your closet also, now is it dirty clothes? Okay,

so we got clothes, we got drums, we got Legos,

and a new dresser. Mrs. McConnell, did I see

you in the back? Okay, inflatables. And do they

get used regularly? Oh, that's fantastic. That's

fantastic. We'll have to drive by sometime. Yeah.

Okay, okay and actually I'm gonna pause there

because I was hoping that would come up. Storage,

especially electronic storage. And I'll mention

I'm doing a couple things different today. I've

got a tray on my lap which is different. I'm

using a laptop which is different from my notes

and I've got my water here and I'm using a different

mic. So if I may have some technical difficulties

too, we'll see. Just some disclaimers. So let

me grab my drink first, and then I'll tell you

about my iPad storage. That's so great that you

brought up phone storage. I love it. So this

is an iPad Mini. I really like the iPad mini

because it's mini, it's lighter, it's easier

for me to pick up and move around. But I recently

had to get a new one. Not because the camera's

better, it's not. Not because the screen was

damaged on my other one, it wasn't. But I have

this habit of, I hate spending more money for

a device that's the same device just because

it has more storage. So I tend to buy the lower

price one. But then what happens? I run out of

storage. And this last time I ran out of storage

so far, I couldn't get the update. And since

I couldn't get the update, I was starting to

have trouble using other things on my iPad. So

I was doing this stuff that we often do, trying

to delete pictures, trying to delete messages,

taking apps off. then putting apps back on, these

different things until finally I had to give

in and I got a different iPad. Again, not because

it's newer, not because it's nicer, I just was

out of storage. Now, that's not the only place

that we're not out of storage. In the physical

spaces, We also have limited storage in our hearts

and in our minds. Have you ever had something

on your mind so much that there's just not much

room for other stuff? It fills up. Sometimes

our mind fills up with different types of challenges,

different types of issues, different situations

that we're in. And it can fill up to that place

and get stuck in that place to where there's

not room for much else. I would like to look

at the passage for today and share a little bit

more about that. In chapter six, verses 19 through

21 of the Gospel of Matthew, I'm gonna read that

here in a moment. You can open it on your device.

If you have enough storage to have the Bible

app, you can look at it on your physical Bible.

Do you ever feel, I've done this where I'm looking

for space and I see like a devotional app or

a Bible app and I feel bad deleting it, so I

have space for something else so it stays. All

right, let's see if we can pull the verses up.

And hey, we got them. All right, it says, this

is Jesus speaking to a group of people who'd

gathered. Do not store up for yourselves treasures

on earth where moths and vermin destroy and where

thieves break in and steal. But store up for

yourself treasures in heaven where moths and

vermin do not destroy and where thieves do not

break in and steal for where your treasure is.

There your heart will be also. Now Jesus was

speaking here first about physical things. His

examples are about physical things. Moths had

to do with clothes. And clothes, we might think

of them today, you know, as just our t -shirts

and our jeans. But some clothes then had a lot

of additional value. To have something, I mean

think about having something with dye in it.

Having something that was a dye or special color

was a very special thing. It had a lot of additional

cost. So you didn't have as many clothing options

and so having clothing was a high status thing

and it held a lot of physical value. I'm going

to tilt back some here because my blood pressure

is giving me a hassle. Go into lazy boy mode.

Now the vermin was about food. Storing up so

much food, but rats, vermin can come in and eat

that food. So if you put your security in your

food, that's something else that could be taken.

And then finally there were thieves and I thought

this was a fun fact because their houses were

made of clay and things similar to that a Thief

would literally dig through the wall of your

home to take your stuff So again this stuff can

be taken if you put your value in that if you

focus on that it can be lost Now Jesus talks

about treasures in heaven What's he talking about?

Is he talking about a bigger mansion? Is he talking

about some kind of stuff that we can have in

heaven? No, he's not. And we see that in different

places, but I'll put it this way. Treasure and

heaven are actions that match the values that

Jesus taught. It's advancing his kingdom, expanding

on what he taught. I'll go on a little bit further.

What are the things that Jesus taught? I picked

a few things. There's lots of them. Generosity,

humility, justice, prayer, trust in God. These

are the types of treasures that he directed people

to pursue. Generosity, the way that that blesses

others. Honesty, the way that that blesses others.

last more than food, last more than clothes,

last more than other valuable things that we

have. But I want to go again back to our hearts

and the things that we store there as well. Are

the things that we're storing in our hearts that

are taking up space, our emotions, those different

places and things, are they full of worry? Are

they full of fear? Are they full of concern about

a situation? that doesn't need to be taking up

that much space in our life. And I'll go further.

I'll go back again to that update example that

I used with my iPad. Those updates that we have

on those devices give us new abilities. They

make us aware of new things. They have security

fixes to make us more secure. God wants to run

updates on our hearts as well He wants there

to be room for new things He wants to be able

to teach us new things if our hearts if our minds

are so full of other stuff Stuff that doesn't

have that long value stuff that doesn't line

up with the values that Jesus teaches We're not

able to add that in. He's not able to bring that

new stuff that he has into our lives so that

we can grow, so that we can continue to advance.

Following me so far? All right, good. Okay, now

as we look through that. I'm going to look now

to what Jesus taught, what he continued to go

through, to let them know that we're cared for.

Because how do we overcome those things in our

hearts and our minds that start to take up so

much space? A lot of times they're connected

in one way or another to fear. Anger often is

driven by a defensive response to something that's

happened to us It's rooted in fear when we worry

about having enough of things or What's going

to happen next? It connects back to that fear

of whether we're gonna have our needs met if

something negative is going to repeat again Jesus

gave some examples in this passage of how we

are cared for. He told us to look at examples

that are all around us. One is birds, and the

other one is flowers. When we, Jesus says, and

I'm gonna skip down, I'm gonna go down to a place

in my notes, and this is from the message. So

it's a little bit more a version of the Bible

that focuses more on current language. Language

we can understand and relate to more than literal

from what's in from the Bible And I'm gonna read

this now. It says this follows in that same chapter

chapter 6 verses 25 through 34 in Matthew He

said if you decide for God living a life of God

worship It follows that you don't fuss about

what's on the table at meal times or whether

the clothes Your closet are in fashion There's

more to your life than the food you put in your

stomach More to your outer appearance in the

clothes you hang on your body And I want you

to hear this part look at the birds free and

unfettered not tied down to a job description

careless in the care of God and You count far

more to him than birds If we can look around

at the birds that are flying around us and know

that they're cared for, that they have what they

need, God cares about us so much more than that.

Then Jesus goes on to say a little further down,

walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers.

They never print or shop, but have you seen every

color and design quite like it? We can look around

at nature again and see the designs that God

has, how he cares, and know that we're cared

for as well. I love this next part. This is Jesus

speaking. What I'm trying to do here is to get

you to relax. To not be so preoccupied with getting,

so you can respond to God's giving. People who

don't know God and the way he works fuss over

these things, but you know both God and how he

works. Steep your life in God reality, God initiative,

God provisions. Don't worry about missing out.

You'll find all your everyday human concerns

will be met. Give your entire attention to what

God is doing, right? now and don't get worked

up about what may or may not happen tomorrow.

God will help you deal with whatever hard things

come up when the time comes. Now, uh, we'll see

how this goes. I'm going to try. I'll start by

reading that original passage in Spanish to the

best of my ability. So we have some friends here

today that speak Spanish. And I want to honor

that. I think of that in Spanish somewhat because

there's a name that I heard a lot this week,

Felipe. He was Pastor Marissa's father and family

to many others who are here today. And I think

of this and I think of him when I think of this

passage because I think about treasure on earth

and treasure in heaven. I think of the stories

that I heard from his family. that went on and

on in his service this past week. There was a

lot of room in his heart, in his mind, in his

time for kingdom stuff, for treasure in heaven,

for making time for those around him, and for

showing love. There wasn't much talk. about earthly

stuff, clothes that were worn, food that was

eaten, any of those things. What was remembered

was the love that was shown to family. And when

I think of that and I think of treasure in heaven,

it just reminds me that we need to keep space

in our hearts, in our minds. Let God keep speaking

to us and continue to show that love to those

around us Now a lifetime is a big thing to focus

on But it's important to remember that these

things happen through moments and so I'm going

to switch gears to some smaller moments, my neighbors.

This past week, I had two boxes in my driveway,

a 140 pound box and a 40 pound box. And I needed

to get those moved into my garage. And so I called

a neighbor and before I could even See my texts

to know that they'd seen it the boxes were already

in my garage They'd made space in their schedule

and their time to come and care for a need My

daughter has difficulty getting into my wife's

van and She has some physical limitations and

she also has a strong fear response to things

that there's not really a good way to understand

it, but there's just some things that cause a

fear response. Once she went to get my wife's

van, she would freeze and start to shake. She

felt unstable. Someone in our church built a

platform that goes around the seat and fits into

our van exactly so that she can climb up and

have the ability to take that extra step and

feel safe. It took a lot of time. It took a lot

of measuring. But that person made room for something

that matters in the kingdom. So I want to ask

this morning, what's maybe something that's clogging

up storage in your heart? What's something that's

taking up more space than you want it to? That

might be making it difficult to recognize and

show love to those in your immediate space. That

might be stopping You from receiving those updates

that God has for your heart and for your life

New things fresh things I'd like you to take

a moment at your table With those around you

And we'll take about four minutes if you're willing

to do that if you're open to it Not everyone

needs to share at the table, but you can share

something that's taking up space in your heart

more than you want it to and something you'd

like to have more space for in your heart. Keep

it brief and it's more about just sharing something

out loud than it is about telling your story,

but I invite you to share that now and we'll

give about four minutes. Be able to do that again

something that might be taking up more space

in your heart than you want it to And something

you'd like to have more space for in your heart

go ahead and share